Kingdom Hearts One Shots
by Chatting Airborne
Summary: This is a collection of writer's block one shots I have written over the years, and will assist me in the future when I need to get away from the main stories I am writing. Some of these may even develop into their own stories. Most are yaoi, with Axel, Roxas, and Riku being main contributors. Enjoy or beware!
1. Namine and the Whale

December 31st, Almost Twelve

I'm sitting in the kitchen with a flimsy paper crown on my head, waiting for my mother to come in with the liquor so we can toast new years properly. There's some heavy banging in the pantry, but I don't go over to see what's happening because I'm feeling disconnected lately. For all I know, my mom could have hit her head, it could be gushing blood right now, and here I am sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the opposite wall with the paper crown hat on my head.

Fortunately, my mother comes back into the kitchen completely fine, holding up two bottles of semi expensive wine.

"Did you not even think of helping me out?" she says in a slightly huffy tone. I shrug. "You are so lazy," she mutters, setting the wine down on the table ceremoniously. "You get it from your father."

There's a momentary, heavy silence, like someone had dug their fingers down a chalk board- you know, like all those old movies, or whatever. It's uncomfortable.

"Sorry." My mom mumbles, fumbling. I just shrug, smiling a little bit.

"Auntie might be coming over." She slips in, but I catch it and sigh heavily. "Wasn't she supposed to be here already?"

My mother scratches the back of her head in irritation; she doesn't want to talk about my aunt. It would just fluster her even more. She wants to enjoy this day, this moment. She doesn't want it to be dimmed by anything. So I don't pursue it.

The wine is opened, and there's a little bit of excitement when one of the corks zings across the room, sending spray shooting everywhere. We clean up, laughing occasionally, reminiscing on that little bit of joy, and pour the wine into glasses, just in time to spy the clock over the sink. Two minutes till.

I bite my lip, slightly disappointed. It's this time, when you're sitting with someone you feel like you don't know enough and you haven't a clue what to say, that's the hardest part- for me, at least. It's quiet, and uncomfortable, and you're desperately thinking of something to talk about, and you're hoping that _they're _going to talk about something, but they don't. So all you can do is avert your eyes and pretend that you have something else on your mind.

I look up at the clock again, and breathe out an inaudible sigh of relief when I notice that there are about twenty seconds left. I tap my mom's hand to let her know what time it is, and then we get our wine glasses ready, smiling at each other.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one…" we count together, getting louder and louder as we go. We get excited when we think that one year is about to pass and another, better one is coming our way. And then, the second hand on the clock moves passed the twelve o'clock mark, and it's a whole new year. We've traveled through time. It's exhilarating. We clap a little bit, sending whooping hollers up into the air, but then it dies down as we start losing energy.

Then, we finally stop speaking, and we purse our lips. There's a silence that can't be fathomed that hangs around us, and all we can do is look down at our hands and pretend to smile. My mom is across the table; she's right there, sitting in front of me. But right now, she's universes away.

January 2nd, 8:00 am

I walk up to the bus stop, plugging an ear bud into one ear, and letting the other one hang loose. Lately I've been having this fear of being oblivious. I tell myself that I can't go off into my own world too much anymore, because then I won't know what's going on in this one. I don't want to miss anything. So, half of me is listening to this world, but the other half is off somewhere that I can't tell.

I hear some kids coming up behind me, and I will myself not to turn around and look at them. I become occupied, looking intently at the little device in front of me. When the kids walk past, I can finally look up at them.

I recognize them right away. Mostly it's the hair- all of their hair is so different. It's Thomas, and his friends. I can't exactly remember their names; one is Leroy, I think. He's in the photography class, which I took for a semester. I forgot the name of the one with the really blond hair. I know it starts with an "h" though. The girl is Sandy. She's in my art class. I know Thomas for a different reason.

They stand a short distance away from me, and I hope for some reason that they don't look back at me, or worse, call me to come over. I would have nothing to say, and I'd feel uncomfortable. I decide that I'm better off being alone. Is that a strange way to be?

Thomas looks back at me with a strange expression- I'd say pitying, but I'd rather think not- and then looks back at his friends. But he doesn't call me over, which makes me breath out a sigh of relief. I suddenly wish I could draw him.

January 2nd, 9ish

I'm fifteen minutes into first period and I'm already dying of boredom. The page in front of me is filled with doodles. I'm taking in what's happening around me, of course, but I'm not completely listening. Half of me is listening to the teacher, the other half of me is off again.

I used to let my mind wander before, but I don't anymore. Only half, as I said before, that's my limit.

The teacher is tapping the board for some reason, and I look up to see if the term he is indicating is important enough to be written down. I think it is. I could do with the definition of gamma particles, definitely. I try to find space on the page in front of me to write down the term, but I notice that it's all taken up by doodles. I didn't even notice I was drawing them. For some reason, this makes me… upset? Satisfied? The emotions I'm thinking of are like polar opposites yet they're both possible right now, in my head. I don't really know. I can't really point my finger down on what I'm feeling, but as I sit thinking about it, it intrigues me. Maybe I was intrigued, and a little scared. I must have spaced out too much.

January 2nd, lunch

The bell rings for us to finish class, and I jump up and bolt out the door, off towards the cafeteria. I stumble upon the expansive room by accident, almost tripping over myself like it's the first time I've seen this place in my life. All of a sudden, I'm feeling really uncomfortable. I mean, I can't move another step, because I don't know which way to go.

As I do every day of school, I feel obligated to sit with a group of people, making niceties and socializing. I yearn to have a best friend just like every other girl my age. I feel like I _need _one.

I think I said before that one of my new years resolutions was not to count on other people to make me happy. I wanted to depend on myself.

Sitting with the people in this lunchroom would just make me uncomfortable. I'd probably fill my notebook with a few more doodles.

On the other hand, I _could _go somewhere else and eat lunch alone. I opt for the second proposition, and high tail it towards the back of the school, sneaking out to the tables behind the art room and beyond, towards the field. I look over my shoulders every few seconds. When I get to the field, I sit down and give a deep sigh of relief.

I sit completely still, in the moment. I'm looking around me, to see if anyone is around. When I'm completely sure that no one is there whatsoever, I sigh again, and lie down in the grass, pulling out my sandwich.

Have you ever tried eating a sandwich while lying down? It's pretty hard. I opt to sit up, trying to keep good posture. I imagine that dancers have good posture out of habit outside the studio. Singers have to keep good posture too, so that they can utilize their lungs to their full capacity. I don't know why I'm thinking about this so hard.

As I sit in this field, looking about, I take in the nature around me for real. It's quiet, but the wind's picking up, so it's blowing the trees back and forth, in a swaying motion. The trees aren't very big, so they sway easier. I feel like I'm 90% in the real world. I feel proud.

Suddenly, I see a shadow moving through the trees. At first I think it's an animal, but then I notice that it's way too big. It's staying inside the line of trees, but I can feel it looking at me. Then, I notice that it's a man.

Before I can think of anything else I am running towards the school like my life depends on it. I've left my lunch behind and I don't even remember when I'm running, I just suddenly am. I don't check to see where the shadow is in the trees; I'm blind, I can't see anything except the art tables.

When I finally get to them, I look back, trying to see if the man is still there. I jump a little bit when I see a kid poke his head from out of the trees off in the distance. Then, he cracks this big smile, and starts to laugh at me. I try to look stoic, but inside I feel like I've been cut through the heart.

He just keeps laughing, and then disappears back into the trees.

I don't know how I feel about it. I don't think he had the right to laugh at me.

January 2nd, 2:45 pm

The art teacher has given us our first assignment of the new semester. We have to convert a photograph to a painting.

I really like fish, so I think I'm going to do the little carp pond in the Chinese restaurant near where I live. I go there sometimes with my mom. I figure if my aunt is coming any time soon, we'll probably go out to dinner. I can suggest Chinese. Then I can take a picture of the carp.

There's this sleek black one that looks cool. It has a white belly, like a whale. I like to think about it 'breaking the surface' of the 'waves' in the carp pond as it swims around. It's always off on its own. I think it's too slow to keep up with the other fish. The last time I was looking at it, I noticed that it had a little dent beside its left fin. But then again, maybe that had nothing to do with it at all. Maybe it was just _pretending _to be slow, like a ruse, you know? Like it could _really _do some damage if it set it's mind to it.

I picture it doing a flip in the air, rising up out of the water, and then back down into, letting droplets cascade out and around the pond. That's so unbelievably immature. Maybe I should be thinking about something else.

January 2nd, 8:00 pm

First day back was interesting. Now that I think back on it, the kid in trees was probably just smoking pot. Why else would a student be skulking around like that? I wonder if the cameras caught me going outside. Would I get in trouble? I feel like no one checks them anyway. Some crazy stuff goes on in high schools with security cameras, and they only seem to check them if it has to do with theft. But, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they do check it. But I doubt they'd look at them just to make sure a kid like me is at lunch or not.

January 3rd, 8:00 am

I'm waiting at the bus stop again when Thomas and his crew walk by. He takes a sideways glance at me from over his shoulder, and we almost meet eyes, but I save myself by looking away. I don't know why I or anyone else does this. I don't know if it's out of habit, or rather some false sense of pride, or some rule of privacy that wills whether we look at people fully on or not. I expect it's just a fear of the unknown. I mean I don't know what's going to happen if we meet eyes. Would we be expected to talk? Would a quick 'hello' suffice? Or would that be weird?

I need to snap out of it. I promised myself that I'd stay half in and half out. But it's been getting harder lately to do that. I find myself _thinking _constantly. It's infuriating. I figure if my mind were blanker than it usually is, I'd lose interest and look out and around me more.

Speaking of which, the bus pulls up, and I wait for Thomas and his buddies to get on first. He and I stop at the entrance to the bus, and we kind of look at each other expectantly, waiting for the other to get on. Then, he kind of indicates that I should get on, and smiles. It makes me smile. I just hope my smile isn't any bigger than his. I can't tell if his is real or just fake, you know, like a courtesy smile? I know it's not a happy smile; he's just being nice. So I guess it is a courtesy smile. Even so, I get on the bus, and as it starts to pull away from the lane, I feel pretty good.

January 3rd, 8:59 am

I'm sitting in fifth period right now. The teacher is droning on about different forms of government. I'm going to set my brain this time, so that I don't daydream too much. I'm trying to keep up the half and half thing- as I said, it's been harder lately- like I used to. Or like I thought I used to.

My aunt is coming in today. She was supposed to come in two days ago to help us celebrate New Year's, but she forgot. I'm not particularly a huge fan of her, because she can be a bully, and because she takes my room when she stays over. It's not great sleeping on our couch, which is one of those hard ones, not the nice soft ones that you can sink into.

My mom told me the bad news about my aunt coming as I was getting out of the car this morning. I tried to take it as lightly as I could. In all honesty, I'd hoped that she would forget until next year, when she'd forget again.

The teacher tells us we'll have a quiz next class. That's not so bad. I know the material pretty well. Thinking about it, I'm guessing that I can at least get a B on it.

Then the thought of the Chinese restaurant comes in the forefront of my mind. I forgot to tell my mother to suggest going out for Chinese. I pull out my cellphone and text her that we should go to the Chinese restaurant, and she texts back that she's making dinner tonight. I purse my lips. I really want to draw the fish. Then I think that maybe I can just walk over and take a picture myself. I don't _have _to eat there. But then, I'd have to walk down there alone. I have second thoughts.

January 3rd, lunch

I feel like all I think about is lunch now. I worry where I'm going to sit, who I'm going to sit with, if anyone will _want _me to sit with them. In elementary school it was easy. You had an assigned lunch table for the whole year, given by the teachers to force communication. But as I think about it more I realize that that arrangement sucked worse than anything. I hated that assigned lunch table.

Now, in high school I have the freedom to sit on my own, and boy do I take it. It's okay that I sit with my own thoughts. Or is it? Perhaps if I were sitting near people I'd do the half in, half out thing a whole lot better.

For a second I look at the lunchroom again. But I lose courage. Instead of going to the field, I sit at the edge of one of the art tables outside, hidden from view so that no one from the class with come out and talk to me.


	2. Axel and Roxas

Roxas tapped his fingers on the steering wheel as he drove along. He'd bought a device that enabled an iPod to be plugged into an old car, but he hadn't used it yet because he'd had dreams of fire. He didn't know if that was an omen, but he figured the best thing to do was just stay as safe as possible. The car was undeniably quiet though.

As he drove on further, his car passed by a blur of red, and he chuckled. It looked like Axel's hair. He decided to stop the car, just out of curiosity, and was taken aback to find that Axel was actually walking around aimlessly behind him. He wondered if he should say hi or not.

"Hey, Axel." He called, and Axel's head whipped up. The red head waved at him amicably, then trotted up to the car when Roxas stopped at a traffic light.

"Hey, can I have a ride, kid?" he asked. Roxas was shocked. He hardly knew Axel, he was one of Demyx's friends, and they'd met occasionally at parties, but they really didn't know each other that well.

"Uh, why?" Roxas asked skeptically, uncomfortable. Axel grinned. "Come on, nervous Nellie. Have a little charity."

Roxas' nostrils flared in and out as he became irritated, at odds with himself. He sighed, and shrugged. "Fine. Get in."

Axel nodded, and ran around to the other end of the car, hopping in the passenger seat. Roxas cringed as Axel's shoulder brushed against his, but he kept a straight face, and pushed on the gas when the light was green. Axel fell back into his seat, protesting loudly. "I didn't get buckled in yet!" he wailed, and Roxas blinked nervously. "Sorry, won't happen again."

Axel looked over at Roxas, and grinned. "Am I in for a wild ride?"

"Uh…" Roxas began, trailing off into mumbled gibberish. He didn't know why Axel was making him so nervous.

See, Roxas liked everything to be completely in order. If things in any way did _not _go according to some preconceived 'plan' Roxas had in his mind for the day, then Roxas got nervous. Axel reeked of spontaneity.

Axel drummed his fingers on his thighs as Roxas drove forward, and he began humming a song familiar to Roxas. "I know that one." Roxas said suddenly, and Axel looked over at him dumbly. "What?" he asked. "I didn't hear what you said."

"Oh, I just said that I recognize the song you were humming."

"Yeah, I heard it at Demyx's house."

"Did he play it at the party?"

"Nah, it was another time."

Roxas looked over, genuinely interested for the first time. "Oh, were you two hanging out?"

There was momentary silence, as Axel's cheeks pinked. "Uh, yeah…" he chuckled, shuffling uncomfortably. Roxas didn't get it for a moment, but then it clicked in his mind. He switched his head away, and nodded to himself, deeply embarrassed. "Ah, I see."

More silence pervaded the car as Roxas continued to drive forward, and the discomfort only mounted as the seconds passed. Axel seemed to have recovered from the embarrassment quite quickly, but Roxas tried desperately to break the silence.

"Where do you want me to drop you off?" Roxas asked, and Axel shrugged. "Do you mind if I stay the night at your place?"

Roxas nearly stopped the car when Axel said this, whipping his head around to Axel to look at him. "You're not serious are you?"

Axel feigned thinking about it, and nodded quickly, grinning. "Yeah, I'm pretty serious."

Roxas sighed heavily in heightening irritation. "I can't have you staying at my place." He grumbled, and Axel snorted. "Why not? You live alone, right?"

There was no reply, so Axel waited for one earnestly. There seemed to be a silent battle going on between the two on who would be the first to speak, but Roxas finally gave in, sighing heavily again, trying not to roll his eyes. "Yeah, I do, but…"

"It's alright, dude, we're both guys." Axel cut in, patting Roxas on the shoulder.

The journey passed over a few more minutes, and Roxas finally pulled into a car space in the front of his apartment complex. Axel smiled. "So I guess I am allowed stay here?"

"Well I can't leave you out on your own." Roxas mumbled. Then, he suddenly bristled. "Why did you want to stay with me, anyway?" Roxas asked. Axel pursed his lips, and looked ahead in dejection. "I've been kicked out by Demyx."

"Why?"

"Misbehavior."

Axel looked sheepishly at Roxas after he'd said this, making Roxas avert his gaze. The two got out of the car, and walked towards the apartment. Roxas stopped a few feet before the door, and turned to Axel, divided.

"Axel, you know I don't know you very well, and there are some crazy people out there, so…"

"So you think I'm one of them?" Axel asked. Roxas shrugged. "You never know."

"Alright. You can leave me by the curb. Or you can lock me in one of your rooms so I can't do anything rash." He added with a chuckle. Roxas shook his head, and unlocked the door. "Call Demyx first- and I want his badge of approval before you come in."

Axel scowled, and punched in Demyx's number on his phone. Then, he stood up, and walked around the corner of the building, kicking his feet aimlessly as he went. Roxas looked on at Axel as he paced a tiny bit, coming in and out of Roxas' view as he walked. Roxas figured he could cut Axel a little slack. The guy was probably having a private conversation. Then again, Roxas' curiosity began to get the better of him, and he crept up towards Axel to see what he was talking about.

"Alright, he wants your 'badge of approval' before I come in. Can you talk to him? Thanks." Axel whipped around just as Roxas stepped closer to him, and looked at the blond in surprise. "Here." He said in amusement, handing the young man the phone, and Roxas took it from him, and put his ear to it.

"_Hey, Roxas!"_ Demyx said cheerfully, surprising Roxas. "Are you and Axel doing well?" Roxas asked, and Demyx snorted. _"That's really none of your business, Roxas." _

Roxas nodded quickly as Demyx said this, blushing a little bit. "Well, uh, you know… he's an alright guy, right? I'm safe?"

"_Of course you're safe, Roxas. Don't worry about a thing, Axel's a great guy- and by great guy, I mean he is __**really **__great- he'll take great care of you."_

"No thanks, I can do that myself." Roxas boasted good-naturedly, becoming surprised when Demyx broke into mad laughter on the other end of the line. "What is it Demyx?" he asked nervously as Demyx nearly choked laughing. "It's nothing, Roxas. You just take care of yourself!" he added, cracking up again. Roxas was puzzled, but he said a quick thanks and goodbye to Demyx before hanging up. Then, he turned to Axel, who was leaning patiently on his front door. "Well?" the red head asked, and Roxas beckoned for him to step aside so he could unlock the door. Axel followed behind him into the apartment, and Axel looked around in curiosity.

The first thing that greeted Axel was a painting on the opposite wall, up the top of the stairs. As Roxas ascended the stairs and stepped into the living room, Axel examined the painting. It seemed to be an abstract depiction of ocean waves crashing onto a shore. It was a visceral painting in a weird way, not very calming. But he had to admit it was very well done.

Roxas walked back out with a bag of chips, and stopped beside Axel. "You like it?" he asked, and Axel nodded.

"Did you do it yourself?"

"Nah, my friend Namine made it for me. She's a great artist." He added affectionately. Axel glanced at him inquisitively, and grinned. "You like her?" he asked. Roxas nodded. "I love Namine! She's my best friend!"

"Is she as uptight as you?" Axel chanced, making Roxas snort and shrug. "I guess. She gets upset sometimes. But she says that that's just the 'artist' in her. She hangs out on her own a lot- which, I guess I do too, but…"

"How did you get to know Demyx?"

Roxas shrugged. "We were in school together. They had a mentor system where the last year students would help the first years, and I got him."

As Roxas spoke, Axel let out a huge laugh. "I bet he wasn't very good." Axel said, and Roxas nodded. It made Axel laugh again, and upon deciding that the atmosphere had become completely comfortable, he plopped himself on the couch with a contented sigh.

"Do you want something to eat?" Roxas asked. Axel nodded, sinking into the couch a little bit more and closing his eyes. He looked like he would fall asleep.

As Roxas walked towards the kitchen again, he looked at Axel. The red head's eyelashes fluttered as if he was thinking deeply, and he exhaled deeply every few seconds. Roxas suddenly had the deep urge to trace the contours of the man's face and neck, but he abandoned that thought as best as he could. He hardly knew Axel.

The fridge didn't hold much promise, either. All that was in it was a clove of garlic and some cheese. He had been eating out at Namine's place a fair bit lately, and he'd been too lazy to restock his own fridge. He shrugged, and tried to hunt around the pantry for some bread. The couch creaked a little bit outside, and the sound of footsteps commenced, becoming closer and closer to the kitchen.

"I can make some garlic cheese bread." Roxas said unsurely. That was a new invention for him. If he had have had some tomatoes he could have made some sort of pizza thing. "What do you want?" Roxas called out, and nearly shouted in fright when he noticed Axel was behind him.

"Sorry." Axel apologized. Roxas waved him off, trying to regain control of his emotions. The spontaneity was killing him. "It's fine." He added wispily, shrugging. "You just can't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry again." Axel chuckled, grinning. Roxas averted his gaze again, cutting some stale bread, cheese, and attempting to cut up the garlic. He wasn't very good, and cut himself half way through cutting the clove. "Ah, fuck…" he mumbled, sucking his thumb, and Axel searched around the kitchen for something. "You got a garlic press?" Axel asked. Roxas looked at him dumbly, confused. "It crushes garlic." Axel chuckled. "I can do the garlic for you if you want." He added, and Roxas acquiesced, stepping aside.

Axel cut up the garlic into tiny pieces with the knife, and looked around lazily at Roxas for direction. "What are we doing with this?"

"Uh, garlic cheese bread?"

"Shit, Roxas." Axel laughed, shaking his head. "I could have just had some chips or something."

"This is all I have." Roxas replied sheepishly. Axel shrugged. "Alright."

Roxas helped prepare the bread, and they talked in front of the oven as it toasted, Axel looking aimlessly out the window every few seconds.

"When did you meet Demyx?" Roxas asked. Axel pursed his lips, thinking about it. "I met him when we started 6th grade. Some kid had brought in energy drinks for lunch and Demyx stole all of them and drank them," Axel lit up as the memory became clearer in his mind, and he started to laugh. "He was hopping around like crazy, letting out these big hyena laughs, then he suddenly just stopped. He went completely limp and he was saying his stomach hurt and he was tired. The other kids got scared and I was the only one that looked after him. He really appreciated it."

"And then you became friends?" Roxas asked and Axel nodded with a smile. "And then we became more than friends."

"Are you guys done for good?" Roxas inquired further, surprising Axel. The red head narrowed his eyes and snorted. "You are nosy, Roxas."

Roxas blushed. He could be nosy. It wasn't his best trait. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Axel stole a sideways glance at Roxas and grinned at him. "It's alright. We all have bad traits. I happen to be loose."

"Loose?" Roxas pondered. "Like a 'loose woman'?"

Axel cracked up at this, nodding as he wiped his eyes. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"So you cheated on him?" Roxas asked, disgusted. Axel shook his head. "I just flirted a lot. With other guys. Sometimes just to irritate him. I went too far. He got fed up."

"What did you do?" Roxas asked, forgetting Axel's comments on his nosiness. Axel just stared at him and shook his head. "You ask a lot of questions, Roxas," he sighed, stretching his arms up over his head. The muscles around his shoulders and the sides of his chest flexed and moved as he did so, and he tilted his head backwards as he pushed out his chest, breathing in. Then, he relaxed, and collapsed onto the couch, humming and closing his eyes.

Roxas was completely engrossed in this little phenomenon, staring at Axel's chest, collarbone, and neck as he breathed in and out. Roxas was nosy. He suddenly averted his eyes, feeling strangely like he was intensely encroaching on Axel's privacy. But what Axel said was true. Everything about him was loose and lanky. His body flirted as he moved. It was as if Axel couldn't even help it, it just happened. Perhaps Demyx was like that in a way, too, but he didn't play it up as much as Axel did.


	3. Smoke in the Locker Rooms (Riku)

Riku sat at the edge of the pier, with his feet dangling in the water. Beside him was his best friend, Sora, who leaned back luxuriantly with his eyes closed, his face turned up towards the sky. Sora sighed, and then giggled a little bit, lying down on the pier. He breathed out in deep contentment.

"Did you study for the test, Sora?" Riku asked, and Sora frowned a little bit, poking Riku in the stomach. "Don't ruin the peace, Riku."

"Yeah. I wouldn't want to make you worry about your terrible grades."

Sora waved him off, and rolled over onto his stomach. Riku looked at the back of his shirt, and breathed out, shaking his head as he noticed the stains left on the back of it from the pier.

"You know the fishermen gut fish right where you're putting your face." He added, and Sora looked at him with a disapproving glare. Riku shrugged. "Just informing you."

"I'm sick of being 'informed' of everything. Get a life, Riku. Have a little fun!"

Riku frowned deeply at this, crossing his arms over his chest. Sora just never seemed to understand the concept of 'working'. He never did his homework, never studied for tests, and he never went in for tutoring. He relied on Riku to do everything for him.

"You don't do shit, Sora!" Riku finally snapped, and Sora laughed riotously. "You got that right!"

There was the sound of giggles, and Kairi and Selphie passed by. Kairi looked back at the boys affectionately, and waved at them. Then, the two girls left.

Riku and Sora sighed at the same time, and then looked at each other in surprise. "Wait a minute!" They both said, pointing to one another. Sora shook his head, as if his whole world had just come crashing down around him. "No, no!"

"Do you like Kairi, Sora?" Riku asked, and Sora hunched over, moaning melodramatically. Riku grabbed him and hoisted him back up in to a sitting position. "What the hell is wrong with you, Sora?" he snapped. "This isn't the end of the world!"

"I know! But this will ruin our friendship!"

Riku shook his head as Sora said this. "Never. Don't you remember bros over hoes?"

Sora looked shocked. "Kairi is not a hoe!" he snapped, and Riku shrugged. "Maybe not. But still. Girls aren't going to ruin our friendship, bro."

Sora nodded, inspired, and the two fist pumped. Then, they stood up, Riku checking the time on his watch. "Holy shit!" he muttered to himself. "It's getting late. We've got to start heading back soon."

Sora nodded, and turned back around, trudging back up the pier. "This year is going to be the best!" he roared, and threw his fist into the air in excitement. Riku rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

…..

Riku's alarm rang to wake him up, but his eyes were already wide open. The first day of school was always nerve wrecking for him. He'd heard that the 6th year teachers were really hard. But, school was school.

He took a deep breath, and then went through his morning routine.

First, he got out of bed, and got dressed in his running clothes. His bottle of water and keys were already set out on the kitchen table- he'd taken care of that the night before. He grabbed them as he sprinted out of the house, and then locked the door behind him, taking a deep breath, and began to stretch. Then, he was off running for thirty minutes. He came back home, refilled the water bottle, set it by the door again, and went to the bathroom to take a shower. He had a small breakfast, got his backpack and lunch ready, brushed his teeth, messed with his hair a bit, and he was off down the road to Sora's house.

Sora's mother had begun working again, and now it was his job to wake himself up in the morning. But he never did. Riku always had to come over and help him get ready.

He finally reached Sora's house, and tapped on the boy's bedroom window. The kid was out like a light. Riku sighed heavily, and rapped on the window. Sora still wouldn't get up. Riku shouted into the window, but Sora didn't move a muscle.

"Little bastard." Riku growled to himself, pressing his face to the window in slight despair. He felt a duty to look after Sora, but they would be late for school if he didn't get up soon!

Riku poked around the house, trying to find a way in. The back window was open, and Riku laboriously climbed through it, toppling to the ground when he tried to set his foot down. He stomped towards Sora's room, and noticed that the boy was still sleeping, after everything.

"Sora!" he shouted. Sora opened one eye, peered up, and farted at him. "See you next week." He said, sniggering, and Riku decided he had had enough. He ripped Sora out of bed, and threw him onto the ground. Sora slapped the silver haired boys' hands away, and began to sit up, looking around groggily. "What the hell was that for, dumbass? I was trying to sleep!"

"It's time for school!" Riku shouted, and Sora waved him off, scoffing. Riku rummaged around Sora's desk, and found that he had not done any of his summer homework.

"Sora, you do realize that we'll have tests on the summer assignments the first day of school, right?"

"I'm not in the advanced classes, Riku. I'm good."

"Don't you have assignments for them?"

"Yeah, but I didn't do them!"

Riku growled, and kicked at Sora's desk. He only succeeded in hurting his foot. Cursing, he dragged Sora by his leg into the bathroom, and threw him into the shower.

Sora sat there in his boxers, sulking as the shower water fell over him, and Riku was faced with the impending possibility of having to wash the boy for him. He grabbed the shampoo, and rubbed it into Sora's hair.

"No! I'll do this shit myself!" Sora roared, and ripped the shampoo out of Riku's hands. Riku exited the bathroom in deep irritation, and stalked off to the door to wait for Sora to get ready. The boy was out of the bathroom in ten minutes, and he dashed around, getting his stuff together. Then, he and Riku were out the door.

"My backpack is so heavy this year!" Sora complained as they walked towards the train, and Riku looked at the bag. It had a binder and a few folders in it. Riku's had two textbooks, three binders, and four folders in his. He always came prepared.

"I can't wait till we get our lockers so I can shove all this crap into it." Sora muttered sulkily, trudging along like he could barely walk. Riku rolled his eyes. Sometimes he couldn't stand Sora, he didn't know why he was friends with the kid half the time.

"Hey, Riku, you know my cuz', Roxas?" Sora asked. Riku nodded. The pretty blond boy who all the girls fancied. "Yeah, I think I remember him." He mumbled.

"He's having a back to school party with some of his college friends. It's gonna be tight! Are you in?"

"You mean those college drop outs?" Riku corrected, and Sora sighed. "No! I mean like those really cool guys! Axel, and Demyx, Larxene… Xion… hot Xion…"

Riku's cheeks pinked a little bit as he thought about Xion. She hung out with Roxas **all **the time. Riku talked to her sometimes, but he could tell that she wasn't very interested in him. "Well… do they want us there?"

"Of course they do! We're fun, aren't we?"

Riku had never gone to a big party before. He'd always backed out because he was scared that he'd get drunk and embarrass himself. Sora never seemed to have a problem with that, but Riku couldn't stand bearing his bad points for all to see. People always thought he was no fun, though. Maybe that's why Xion didn't like him.

"Well, maybe this time it could be fun." Riku mumbled, causing Sora to fist pump the air in victory.

"His bro has also got some cool friends who are coming over. There are two of them, I think."

Riku shrugged, and sighed. "I don't care."

They sat on the train, and Sora shot spit balls up at the ceiling. Other kids from their school started to board the train, and they looked for Kairi and Selphie.

"I guess they went into school early for something." Sora said, and Riku remembered that the student council was supposed to help the new kids get to their classes. "Aw shit!" he snapped, jumping up. "We're not gonna get there in time for the meeting!"

Sora looked at him in confusion, but then it clicked with him. He jumped up, and left the train, with Riku trailing behind him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Riku shouted after him, but Sora looked around diligently. When he saw a stray bike out in the open, he hopped on it, and told Riku to get in back. The silver haired boy did, and suddenly, they were off towards the school.

"The train will probably get there first." Riku mumbled sulkily, but Sora shook his head. "We can go down the mountain side."

Sora and Riku lived on one side of the mountain, and the school was on the other side. The train went around the mountain.

"Can you make it up the mountain without tiring out?" Riku asked, and Sora laughed out loud. "These legs are made of steel, Riku! Who do you think I am, anyway?"

…..

Riku had to drag Sora into his class, because the boy's legs refused to move themselves. As Riku had suspected, Sora was not able to make it up the mountain, and Riku refused to cycle down the steep cliff of the other side of the mountain. So, they had to walk the rest of the way down, and then they boarded the train again, and rode the remainder. Because of this, they were two hours late to class.

Sora groaned as Riku set him down in his seat. In the corner, Roxas and his friends were in fits of laughter, watching Sora slump over his seat in agony.

"Something reeks in here!" Hayner shouted, covering his nose. Pence fanned the air, and pinched his nose shut too.

Sora looked straight ahead in defiance, refusing to see if he was the one that stank. Riku sniffed under his arms, and they did in fact, stink pretty badly. He wondered if there were a few extra uniform shirts in the lost and found that they could borrow for the day.

"See you, Sora." Riku waved, and Sora tried a half ass wave at him, before giving up, and slumping over again.

There was an eerie quiet in the halls as Riku traversed them, and he took a deep breath out, feeling the fact that he was late for class for the first time in his life sink in on him. He had been present every single day of school- always early and ready for class. But today- that all changed. His perfect attendance had been washed away. It was looking like Fuu would be awarded for the spotless attendance award at the end of the school year.

"Damn you Sora!" Riku wailed, slamming his fist against the wall. A tear came into his eye as he thought about the next award to be ticked off his graduation honors. He would certainly be out of the running for student council most 'worthy vice president award'. Fuu had been pining to be president of the student council, along with Kairi, Selphie, Aurora, Belle, Jasmine… all of that clique. But they just couldn't take the heat like Aqua could. Riku was vice president, and Fuu was treasurer. Sora was chosen to be the secretary, and how that happened, nobody was quite sure. Riku thought that maybe it was because Sora was pretty popular with everyone.

There was suddenly the sound of slamming doors, and laughter, and Riku caught a whiff of smoke coming his way. Someone was smoking pot at the lockers. He peeked around the first row of lockers to see who it was, and sure enough, he was greeted by a few of Roxas' friends, Axel and Demyx. What Riku liked to call the 'soon to be college drop-outs'.

They handed the roll around, trying to make shapes out of the smoke. Then, Demyx tried to climb on top of the lockers. Riku narrowed his eyes as he looked at them. If he caught them in the act, he would regain his honor in the student council. Maybe another award would be allotted to him for good citizenship.

"What do you think of Roxas?" Demyx asked suddenly, and Riku's ears perked up. He couldn't resist listening to what they were going to say. Anything he could use to get Sora _not _to go to the party, he would.

"He's my friend!" Axel responded, and Demyx laughed riotously. "And what else?"

The red head hesitated for a moment, and then shrugged, grinning mischievously. "I guess he's pretty hot."

Demyx giggled madly and looked around to see if anyone was there, but he didn't notice Riku looked out at them from behind the lockers. The silver haired boy's heart was pounding.

"And his friends. What about Olette, yeah, her."

Axel shrugged, blowing out smoke. "Boring."

"What about Phillip's girl, hah?"

"Aurora?"

"Yeah, who else?"

"Well, I saw him messing around with that other blond a while back."

"Ella?"

"Yeah."

"I thought Charming had her."

They both looked at each other for a second, and then Demyx broke out laughing. Riku listened curiously to see what other girls they would name off.

"Aqua."

"Oh, yes." Axel said immediately. "But she's impossible."

"You've tried before?"

"Yeah. She shut me down."

"She likes Terra. You can tell the way she looks at him." Demyx said dreamily. "If I had a girl like that…!"

"You'd take advantage of her." Axel finished dully, and Demyx shrugged.

"Alright, back to guys. Sora." Demyx tried mischievously, and Axel grinned slyly. "Yeah."

Riku felt his mouth drop open, and he looked around feverishly, thinking that he should probably evacuate the area before he would get caught. He decided not to 'stand his ground' on this point. He'd catch them in the act some other time.

"What about his friend, Riku?" Demyx asked, and Axel snorted. "Boring."

For some reason unbeknownst to Riku, his heart fell a little bit. He should have been relieved that these loafers didn't see anything in him, but it was kind of disappointing, in a strange way.

All he knew for sure was that he and Sora were _not _attending that strange, back to school party under _any _circumstances.

…

The bell rang for lunch, and Selphie and Kairi walked out of chemistry class, shuddering. They'd had to take a test the first day of school. Kairi thought that she'd done a pretty lousy job, but she knew that Selphie hadn't even been able to read half of what was written on the page.

"Was halogen an alkali earth metal?" Selphie asked curiously, and Kairi sighed. "I think that halogens are a different group altogether. It didn't sound like an earth metal. And the fact that the teacher put that as a plural gave me a clue that it was probably another periodic group."

Selphie looked at her blankly. "Is plural another group?"

Girly laughter wafted down the hall as Kairi attempted not to laugh, and the red head felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around, and noticed Aurora smiling at her.

"Hey, Kairi!" the beautiful blonde said in a singsong voice, moving her long, gorgeous curly locks behind her ear. Kairi smiled sheepishly, her heart beating a little faster. "Hi, Aurora." She mumbled.

"We were wondering if you'd like to sit with us for lunch?" Aurora asked politely. Selphie nearly had a heart attack behind Kairi, clinging onto the red haired girl for dear life. Kairi didn't hesitate to answer. "I would love to sit with you guys!"

Aurora smiled. "We just think that you're really funny, and cool! We would really love for you to be a part of our little group."

Selphie may not have been very smart, but she could tell when she was being blocked out of a conversation. Aurora had an amazing ability of blocking someone out of a conversation, without it seeming like they were being blocked out. But Selphie knew.

She quietly skulked off, and Aurora watched her go away with narrowed eyes. Kairi looked at her as she went too, in confusion. "I wonder where Selphie's going."

Aurora turned Kairi back around gently, smiling sweetly. "Kairi, we chose you because we know you really well. Maybe Selphie could go sit with her other friends, like that girl Yuffer or whatever."

"Yuffie." Kairi corrected, and Aurora shrugged. "Yeah, Yuffie."

She changed the subject expertly, and led Kairi off towards their lunch table.

"These are the girls!" She gushed, extending her arm to show off all of her friends. Jasmine looked like she was in a huff, and Alice, Snow White, and Belle were all conversing in quiet voices. "Where's Cinderella?" Kairi asked, and Aurora snorted. "She's temporarily out of the group. There was a little 'development'."

"She stole Phillip!" Snow White blurted out, and Aurora gave her a death glare. "She was making _eyes _at Phillip." Aurora corrected. "If she had _stolen _Phillip, she would be dead by now."

She let out a girlish laugh, and the rest of the group quickly joined in with her. Kairi didn't really think that it was that funny, so she just stood awkwardly beside the table, looking back to see where Selphie had gone.

"Sit beside me, Kairi!" Alice gushed, and Kairi shrugged. Jasmine scooted over a little bit so that she could sit down, but stayed in her bad mood.

"What's wrong with you, Jas?" Snow White asked, and Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Al keeps looking at me with those dreamy eyes. He irritates me! He's such a dork…"

"Aw, you might like him some time! He's pretty good looking. I'd go for him, if I didn't have my prince!" Snow White bubbled, putting her hands on her cheeks and giggling loudly. Kairi, again, did not know what to say.

"Do you have a boyfriend, Kairi?" Aurora asked, and Kairi shook her head. "No."

"Oh, you must be concentrating really hard on school, huh?"

Kairi furrowed her eyebrows a little bit. "I suppose so."

Aurora smiled at this. "I don't know what I would do without Philly. I still manage to get my school work done, but it is hard, like you said."

Kairi just smiled as Aurora went on, and messed with the food her mother had packed for her. She wondered where her other friends were sitting.

Roxas walked into the lunchroom the same time that Ventus did, and the two brothers met eyes, and waved at each other good-naturedly. Behind Ventus, were Aqua and Terra.

"Hi guys, how are you?" Roxas asked, and Ventus shrugged. "Okay. Wish I wasn't at school."

"I was asking Aqua and Terra, dumbass." Roxas said, smiling, and Ventus tried to ruffle his hair up. Roxas quickly dodged, and the two playfully slapped at each other, before Terra broke it up. "You guys aren't five. Knock it off."

"Come on Terra. Don't be so boring." Aqua tried, and Terra frowned at her. "Whatever." He mumbled, going ahead to pick a table, and Aqua didn't lag far behind. Ventus waved goodbye to Roxas, and ran off towards his friends. Roxas looked around the room for Hayner and the gang. Spotting them, he jumped up and down, and waved at them brightly. Hayner ran towards him, and they chest bumped with a loud holler, attracting the attention of almost everyone in the lunchroom.

"Does Xion have this lunch?" Roxas asked, and Hayner shrugged. "I don't know."

Xion walked towards the lunchroom with Namine, Yuffie, and a girl named Ariel that they had met. She liked to sing a lot.

"I think that they should put the information about the musical up. I want to audition really badly!" She gushed, and skipped away towards the theater callboard, leaving the other three girls on their own.

"Is Mulan in one of your guys' classes?" Yuffie asked, looking around for her, and Namine shrugged. "I didn't see her around. Maybe she has the next lunch."


	4. The Elephant In the Room (Akuroku)

Roxas knocked on the front of Naminé's house three times like he usually did before backing away to wait for her to come down. She was taking longer than usual. Then, he heard a 'swoosh' from his phone signaling to him that he'd just gotten a text message.

'_Be down in five!'_

Roxas chuckled to himself, beaming and rolling back and forth on the heels of his feet. He'd been with Naminé for a month now and things were going great. They did nearly everything together, and there was something about Naminé that inexplicably drew him to her. They just matched completely.

Roxas snapped to attention when he heard the front door unlatch. As it opened, Roxas peered in and smiled at Naminé, who had dressed up for their day out.

"You look nice!" Roxas said with a beam. Naminé returned the smile, giving Roxas a little curtsy before bounding ahead of him, down the stairs and along the street path. Her blonde hair swished back and forth as she walked and the slight breeze circling around blew the scent of strawberries back at Roxas.

"You using new shampoo?" Roxas asked, catching up to her. Naminé nodded shyly. "It's strawberry citrus. Do you like it?"

Roxas nodded with another smile. "Yep, I love strawberries!"

"You know they say that strawberries are really good for sex drive?" Naminé said with a giggle, putting her hand over her mouth as her cheeks went slightly red. "Isn't that weird?"

Roxas frowned a little bit, shrugging in discomfort. "Yeah…"

There was an awkward silence, in which Naminé peered over at Roxas in slight curiosity, pursing her lips. "Did I make you uncomfortable?" she asked. Roxas shook his head quickly and smiled, giving a small chuckle. "Nah, I'm fine, Naminé. I just didn't know you talked about stuff like that."

"I don't!" Naminé cried in protest, getting closer to Roxas. "It was just a comment!"

"I know, Naminé, I'm just kidding," Roxas chuckled. There was more silence as they rounded the street corner, heading towards the spacious park that lied at the end of the road perpendicular to Naminé's street. They both breathed in the scent of the honeysuckles that were beginning to take over the hedges of the houses they passed by, laughing a little bit to each other and bending close. Roxas hummed a little bit of a song Naminé liked and she blushed, turning her face a little as he sang so that he would not notice her reddening cheeks.

They finally reached the park, and Roxas opened the gate for Naminé as she walked in, continuing to keep close beside her. They passed through one of the trails and headed towards a break in the path, where a huge 'keep out' sign was pasted on a low barbed wire fence. Roxas helped Naminé over the fence and then jumped it himself, and they walked down an old, disused dirt path to the left of them, veering in amongst trees that opened up into a field of high bushes, grasses and the occasional tree. Wild flowers swayed in the breeze as the two lovers trudged past the grass, giggling and laughing about private jokes and small things that had been happening to them that week.

When they finally reached their usual spot, Naminé let out a cry of delight, and Roxas sighed in relief. He had laid out a picnic for them, and thankfully no wild animals had decided to have a look around. Just to be sure, Roxas cleared the area to see if anything had been there, and made the area suitable for Naminé to sit down. She did so quaintly and folded her legs underneath her, careful not to disrupt her skirt. Roxas politely looked away as she did this just in case he caught sight of anything he shouldn't have. He prided himself on being a gentleman.

"I got us something special to celebrate your birthday," he said mischievously, making Naminé sit up a little bit taller, a bright smile painted across her face. "What is it, Roxas?"

Roxas couldn't help but grin as he pulled the champagne out of the picnic basket, relishing in his good fortune as Naminé cried out in delight. He had managed to snag the expensive bottle from one of his friends, promising he would pay him back someway. He'd probably have to pick up some weed for him, but he wasn't worried about that right now. Right now, it was all about Naminé.

He unpacked two champagne glasses as Naminé clapped her hands in delight, leaning in closer to him to watch as he worked. The glasses had been carefully placed in two tea towels so they wouldn't break, and Roxas unrolled them from the towels gingerly, setting them out on the picnic blanket in front of them. Then, he had Naminé steady them as he poured them out the wine.

"Let's have a toast," he said, picking up his own wine glass and giving the other to Naminé. "To the beautiful, talented Naminé in celebration of her 17th birthday!"

"Yay, I'm almost legal!" Naminé giggled jokingly. The awkward silence penetrated their presence again, but Roxas coughed loudly to dispel it, and smiled in return to her comment. "But also, to us, right?"

Naminé looked over at Roxas with moist eyes, nodding briskly and smiling at the boy in front of her. "Of course, Roxas!" Then, they both sipped at their drinks.

"Here, do you want some food?" Roxas asked and Naminé nodded. Roxas pulled out a dish that his mother had helped him make a little while before, dividing it onto two nice white plates for Naminé and himself before handing hers to her, digging into his own. Naminé laughed as he ate, pointing at him and shaking her head.

"What?" Roxas responded in curiosity. Naminé just shrugged with a smile. "You just wolf it down, Roxas. Why don't you enjoy it?"

"I am enjoying it," Roxas mumbled, hearing that lovely laugh again which made him smile without helping himself.

"So how's your art going?" Roxas asked. Naminé shrugged with a sigh. "It's going well. That art gallery in town has chosen me to be the next student represented. I'm going to have my own section in the gallery!" she added with another long sigh. "But I don't know if my top school will take me. I've got really tough competition and I've really got to keep practicing. Some of the students there now have already had tons of gallery shows of their own. They're all prodegies."

"Aw, you'll do well, Naminé," Roxas replied quickly. "They have to take you, you're amazing!"

The blonde blushed at this, shrugging. She wasn't one to fish for complements so she didn't continue putting herself down, but she smiled anyway at what Roxas had said. "Thanks," she added quietly. Roxas held her hand with a smile. Then, he remembered the cupcakes.

"I didn't bring a whole cake because I figured we wouldn't eat it all anyway," he explained as he set the candles in Naminé's special cupcake. It was pretty big, and it had creamy white icing atop it, with lovely little sugar decorations. The cake part was marble flavored- Naminé's favorite, and the foil surrounding it was silvery white. Naminé beamed at it, watching the silver candle being stuck into the top of it. Then, Roxas pulled out his dirty old orange lighter with a sheepish grin. It still had an old sticker on it with the name of some pro skater he had liked when he was younger. "Sorry, I didn't have a nicer one…" he mumbled. Naminé pursed her lips, but shrugged as Roxas lit the candle. Then, the cupcake was handed to her.

"Make a wish," Roxas said softly. Naminé peered at him hopefully before shutting her eyes tight and pausing. Then, she blew out the candle with all her might, peeking out at Roxas with a sheepish grin. "Are you going to tell me your wish?" Roxas asked, but Naminé shook her head quickly. "If I tell you what I wished for it won't happen," she whispered, biting into her cupcake. Roxas pulled his own cupcake out of its tinfoil and chomped into it gleefully. He had a dreadfully sweet tooth, which he was satisfying very quickly. He finished the cake in a matter of minutes, as Naminé just barely got through half of hers before deciding she was full.

"I'll save the rest for after dinner," she said softly, taking out a little mint and popping it into her mouth. She handed the little box to Roxas, signaling for him to take one if he wanted. He did.

The two sat back on the tree the picnic had been set up under, reveling in the day and thinking of different things. Naminé slowly reached out, entwining her hands in Roxas'. He squeezed her palm and she returned it. Then, he felt her head resting on his shoulder, and her body sinking down into his side. It was comforting, having a soft, warm body against his. He felt slightly sleepy he was so content.

"You have any music?" Naminé whispered. Roxas chuckled a little bit, and then gasped. He'd forgotten to bring his guitar. He was supposed to serenade her. Slapping his hand to his forehead, Roxas let out a dejected sigh. He'd ruined it.

"What's the matter?" Naminé said in slight worry. Roxas shrugged, pouting a tiny bit. "I forgot my guitar," he sighed. Naminé shrugged, and chanced a kiss on the cheek, pecking him affectionately and then moving away shyly. "I don't mind, Roxas. You did a lovely job, anyway."

This made Roxas smile. He sat back again blissfully, before snapping to attention once more. "I do have my phone, though," he said, pulling out his old speakers that he brought around with him. "I think these things still work…"

After a little bit of setting up, Roxas got the speakers to work, and he asked Naminé which song she wanted. She scrunched up her nose in concentration, before sitting back in delight. "Let's have some Arcade Fire," she chirped with a sly smile. Roxas grinned. It was collectively one of their favorite bands. "Which album?"

"You know my favorite one, Roxas," Naminé cooed, snuggling into Roxas' arm. "Alright…" he sighed, going to Funeral and letting it play. "Everyone knows that The Suburbs was their best one," he teased, and Naminé snorted. "I like the first one," she whispered, closing her eyes again. "We can listen to The Suburbs on your birthday."

They sat in silence through the first song, and then when the second song came on, Roxas started to hum along with it, before he broke into song, singing along and drumming the beat on his thighs. Naminé helped by tapping a corresponding beat on her knees and harmonizing with Roxas as they sang louder and louder, getting more into it. Pretty soon they were bobbing their heads and shaking their shoulders, slapping their legs vigorously in time with the music, singing riotously and with deep expression.

The third song came on and they died down a little bit, going quiet again and listening to each other, snuggling in closer. Roxas had left a time frame of about an hour and a half before the sun began to go down. The days were getting so short at this time of year. He didn't want them to be stuck in the park when it got dark. It would be scary for Naminé. But he wanted to get through the whole album. He may not have scheduled enough time, though.

When the album was coming to a close and the two were sufficiently relaxed, Naminé looked into Roxas' eyes with a longing expression, and smiled dreamily. "This is the best birthday a girl could ask for, Roxas," she whispered, bending in closer to him. Roxas smiled at her in return, slightly oblivious. His thoughts were on the waning sun. "Can you turn back to Une Annee?"

Roxas nodded, and switched back to the third song, letting it play. Naminé looked up at the sunset and snuggled even closer to Roxas, who didn't know being this close was physically possible. He was beginning to think that Naminé expected something of him.

The break in the song came about one minute before it was finished, where the drums picked up and the guitars played with more excitement. It was an anticipation, and Roxas' eyes fell on Naminé's. She was looking at him with the strangest expression, inching closer and closer to his face, as the song seemed to beat faster like a quickening heart. Like Roxas', no doubt.

Then, their lips closed around each other, and they were kissing each other. It was a soft, slightly bewildered kiss, and before they knew it, the song was finished, fading out into the next. The fourth song was livelier also, beginning bright and hopeful. They kissed longer, and Roxas held Naminé's face, wondering in curiosity how long these types of kisses were supposed to last.

When the two broke away from one another, they looked into each other's eyes in slight surprise, before Naminé's eyes teared up, and she wrapped herself around Roxas, nuzzling her face into his chest. He felt her crying a little bit, and he chuckled, patting her head. "What's the matter?" he said. Naminé shrugged, wiping her eyes quickly with a grin. "You just made my wish come true," she murmured.

Roxas beamed at this, absolutely chuffed with himself. He couldn't believe he'd gotten it so right. He knew there was something that she was building up to, but he couldn't quite figure it out until she really started leaning in to him. But he got it right. And the sun was really going down now.

"We've got to go, Naminé," he said softly, hoisting her up a little bit. She nodded slowly, asking if they could keep the music going. "Put on Kettles," she said quietly. "You want a sad one?" Roxas asked. Naminé nodded serenely, and Roxas had her hold his phone and speakers in her hands as they walked back down through the field with all the picnic equipment. It all fit neatly into the basket except for the blanket, which Roxas wrapped over his shoulders cape style, much to Naminé's delight. They ran through the field, laughing and giggling, until they finally reached the fence that said 'keep out'. Roxas ceremoniously helped Naminé over the fence and then handed her all the equipment before jumping it himself. Then, they redistributed their supplies and continued to walk forward. As they got back onto the path, Roxas could spy a small bonfire in a distant part of the woods, hearing laughter and music. He wondered who was over there. He wished he could have a joint right now. It was the perfect atmosphere. Maybe someday Naminé would have one with him. That would be his birthday wish. He wondered how much time he had to make that happen.

By the time they got out of the park's front gates, the sun had gone down completely. Roxas had really timed it to perfection. He held Naminé's hand as they rounded the corner leading back up to her house, moving with haste so that she would not get worried. Naminé didn't like walking around after the sun went down.

Roxas lead Naminé back up to her front porch, pretending to be a regal gentleman leading his lady up an elegant staircase. Naminé curtsied to him before her door gracefully and broke out into a sweet smile. She really was adorable. "Thank you, good sir," she murmured happily, unlocking her front door. "Anytime, my lady," Roxas replied.

"Do you want to come in and watch a movie or something?" Naminé asked suddenly. This surprised Roxas, but he quickly said no, he had to get back home. "That's fine," Naminé acquiesced, and kissed him on the cheek before going inside her house.

Roxas lingered for a moment on her porch after she had closed her front door, assessing his feelings. He felt very warm inside. It was a huge success, and he felt incredibly proud of his work. He didn't like to delve too deeply into his feelings, but he knew that this time, he felt completely perfect.

Taking a deep breath, Roxas skipped down Naminé's porch and jogged over to his car, hopping in and turning on the ignition. When he looked back down at his phone, he noticed that he'd gotten a load of text messages from his friend Hayner asking if he wanted to come over that night. Roxas grinned wide. The day was set to get even better.

Roxas veered out away from Naminé's house, going back towards the apartment where his friend Hayner lived. When Roxas got there, Hayner was just setting out the goods and talking with Pence, who was reading one of Hayner's magazines. "Roxas, come help me out here," Hayner mumbled, beckoning for Roxas to come over. Roxas did so, and they both got their pipes ready, discussing what type of pot they'd each acquired.

"I hope you got indica," Pence piped up from the back of the room, making Hayner scowl. "Shut up, Pence, you're just mooching."

Roxas cracked up at this, inching closer to Hayner as the blond boy muttered to himself. "You do need to relax, Hayner," Roxas said suddenly, examining the frown lines on Hayner's face. Hayner acted the cool guy, but he worried a lot. Hayner chuckled at this, shrugging.

"I know man, that's why I invited you over! Maybe I should kick Pence out…" he added, eyeing Pence with mock scrutiny. Pence just gave him the finger and went back to reading his magazine.

"How long have you been over here, Pence?" Roxas asked. Hayner snorted. "The whole fucking day. He's been eating all my food!"

Pence patted his stomach at this with a satisfied grin coloring his face. This made Hayner snort again, even louder this time. He shook his head. "See, the fucker's proud of it."

Roxas laughed at this, and got out his lighter. They all lit up their pipes, sitting back on Hayner's couch and discussing. Pence had managed to bring his own pipe, but he forgot his lighter so he borrowed Hayner's.

After a while, the effects started to set in, and the three sat back comfortably, watching the fan over head whirl around and around, the blades disappearing as they sped in circles.

"How was your date, man?" Hayner asked. Roxas shrugged, trying not to give it away with his smile. But he couldn't help it. "It went great," he grinned. Hayner grinned back mischievously at this, punching Roxas in the arm. "So how far did it go?"

Pence seemed interested in this, leaning forward expectantly along with Hayner, who looked at Roxas for answers. Roxas shrugged, a little put out. "I didn't go that far with her guys, it was her birthday."

"Did you kiss her?"

"Yeah, I kissed her!"

"How long?"

"I don't know! A couple of minutes."

"Like two?"

"No, longer than that."

"Did you really go at it?" Hayner chanced, sticking his tongue out and flicking it around. Roxas took the moment to throw a pillow at him, grinning good naturedly, only the tiniest bit irritated. "No, there was no tongue. It was just a normal kiss. Naminé's not into that sort of thing."

"Yet," Hayner corrected, taking another hit before sitting back on the couch again, puffing out rings of smoke and examining them as they floated up into the air and disappeared slowly. "Shit man, you're lucky. Naminé's hot. I wish I could get the guts up to ask Olette out."

"Oh, yeah. Wasn't she supposed to come?" Roxas asked. Hayner shrugged. "I wanted some guy time, you know? And besides, she was going out with her cousin. She's staying the weekend at her house."

"Oh, isn't her cousin getting married?" Roxas asked. Hayner nodded. "Yeah…"

There was a momentary, thoughtful silence except for the sound of Pence humming loudly, until Hayner decided to break it. "So when do you think stuff will get serious?"

Roxas huffed loudly, throwing his head back to look at the ceiling. Sometimes Pence and Hayner pried so much. "I don't know guys, and I don't particularly care. I can exercise self control."

"I know," Hayner sighed, shaking his head. "You're like the master of self control. How do you do it man?"

Roxas pondered over it, shrugging. "I just don't think about it in a sexual way, I guess. Naminé's just a sweet girl, you know? I don't want to take it fast on her. I'm not into fast girls anyway. It's a turn off," he added with another shrug. Hayner snorted. "Well, Mr. 'Mightier than thou'…"

"It's not that!" Roxas protested, thinking up a proper response, "I like it that it's not rushed, it'll last longer that way. And I know that it can happen at any time, right? Why hurry?"

Hayner was pensive at this, but he reached down and scratched his balls as he thought, furrowing his eyebrows. When he'd finished adjusting himself, he put his hands behind his head and pursed his lips. "But how do you not get urges?"

"I do," Roxas laughed. "Man, I'm not completely useless."

Hayner laughed out loud at this and sighed. "You know my uncle?" he asked. Roxas nodded slowly. He didn't really remember who Hayner was talking about. "He had this stack of vintage Playboy magazines laying in his closet when I went over to help him move out of his place. He let me have a few of them."

Roxas began to feel slight discomfort, but he folded his arms in front of him and sat back in mock nonchalance as Hayner searched around for the magazines. When the blond found them, he gave one to Pence, kept one for himself, and then handed the third to Roxas. Roxas felt obligated to look at it, but his discomfort was making him squirm. "Guys, I really can't look at this stuff," Roxas said suddenly, putting the magazine aside after flipping through a short number of pages. Hayner shook his head with a chuckle. "Why the hell not, man?" he replied. Roxas rolled his eyes.

"I just went out and celebrated my girlfriend's birthday!" he snapped. "I feel bad looking at this stuff. And besides, these girls have no self respect!"

"You think Naminé looks better than this hot babe?" Hayner replied, opening his magazine to a full, two-page spread of a tan, blonde woman spilling out over a kitchen table. She was only wearing an apron, tiny and ineffective in covering any ample surface area of her body. Roxas wanted to avert his eyes, but he found that he was attracted to the picture.

He looked at the woman, examining her body, and the scenery around her, and shrugged. Her breasts _were _fascinating to look at, but Roxas found that it was easier than he had suspected not to become aroused over her. "I guess she's just not my type," he muttered. He had to admit, he was proud of himself for being able to do it. He could imagine Naminé's pleased look as he told her. But, of course, he would never tell her this.

Hayner gaped at him, looked at the girl again, and then shrugged. "Shit, man. What is your type?"

"Naminé," Roxas replied flatly, making Hayner chuckle and shake his head. "I mean besides her. What's your type of girl?"

"I don't really know, yet," Roxas sighed. "Maybe it's not a certain look. I think I like the personality better. I mean, I don't want her to be ugly, but if she's got a bad personality…"

"Wait, so you think a girl's _personality _makes her sexy?" Hayner asked. Roxas thought about it, frowning. He was getting uncomfortable again, but he waved it off. "Maybe personality is the wrong word… Maybe it's more of a… vibe," Roxas tried, laughing at his own incompetency.

Hayner nodded at this. "I guess that makes sense. Do you want to keep one of them?" he asked hopefully, holding up his magazine. Roxas shook his head. "Hayner, Naminé," he said simply. Hayner scowled. "I bet you're just a liar. I bet you're trying to be all high and mighty for your girlfriend. She is hot, though," Hayner added. "I could see her in this thing," he added, pointing to the two-page spread.

"Hey man, shut the fuck up!" Roxas replied, slightly indignant. Hayner broke into laughter, patting him on the back. "Dude, you know I'm messing with you. Don't get so uptight."

Roxas kept pouting for a moment, before sitting back and grinning a little bit. "Alright, man, alright…" he said, holding his hands up in surrender. Then, he put them down in his lap, cracking his knuckles and beginning to relax again, deciding to take a few more hits.

The conversation traveled in different directions, eventually coming around to philosophy. Hayner discussed what he thought of the way things were working in the world, and Pence added in a few contributions. For a while Roxas just sat back and watched the proceedings in contented curiosity, looking from Pence to Hayner thoughtfully as they spoke.

Roxas liked being high a lot, and was unashamed of it. It allowed him to see people in a different light, untainted by society's expectations of the way those people should be viewed. When Roxas was around his friends, being high, he could easily see how another human being could love them, in multiple ways. It was as if Roxas saw them with different eyes, in a more honest view. His mind could wander into odd places without it feeling odd. Every human being was odd at heart. Why would he be any different?

"You guys looking forward to school on Monday?" Pence tried, but was promptly booed. "Why the fuck would you even ask that question?" Hayner snorted. Pence shrugged. "I happen to like school."

"You said a little while ago that you wished mandatory secondary schooling didn't exist," Hayner shot back. Pence shrugged. "If people don't want to go, why should they have to?"

Roxas heard a 'swoosh' from his phone and peered down at it to see who sent him a message. It was Naminé.

"Hey, she says she's going to bed now and that she had a great night," Roxas said with pride. Hayner peered up at him imploringly. "Who?"

"Naminé," Roxas replied and Hayner nodded to himself. "That's cool. Teach me how to do it, man," he added, rubbing Roxas' back. Roxas leaned forward so that Hayner could rub it easier, and the two stared at each other for a moment, before they laughed and patted each other on the back. "You're a great friend, man," Roxas said to Hayner, his arm still on the boy's shoulder, and Hayner nodded back, his arm still on Roxas' shoulder. "You too, man. The affectionate friend."

"Affectionate?" Roxas said with a slight grin. Hayner nodded. "It's fine with me, man. My mom didn't hug me much when I was a kid anyway."

Roxas grinned at this, replying, "well, since you're asking for it…" and hugged Hayner with all his might, sending the two of them rolling off the couch.

Hayner broke into laughter at this, patting Roxas on the back as the two lied on the ground looking up on the fan. Pence glanced down at them with a shaking head. "You two are insufferable. Get a room."

"Ah shut up, Pence. You're just jealous," Hayner responded. "Hey, how's your car doing, too, man?"

Roxas shrugged, remembering that he had to take his car in tomorrow to get the lights fixed. "I mean it's fine, I just need to get the lights done."

"It'll be a pretty quick job, right?"

"Yeah, should be."

"Well, then, I guess all is well…" Hayner sighed, seating himself on the couch again. Roxas stayed on the ground, looking up at the fan for a moment before sitting up against the couch. "Yeah, all's well…"


	5. The Elephant In the Room Vol 2

Roxas peddled fast past the park that used to be his and his ex girlfriend's hang out place, keeping his eyes straight ahead. His car was giving him trouble again, so he'd had to put it into the mechanic's shop for them to deal with for the past few days. Hopefully it would come out working well again.

His bike hit a pothole that almost lurched him forward and over onto his side, but Roxas caught himself before he could fall completely to the ground. Looking up at the sky, Roxas let out a huge sigh and pursed his lips. It was a pretty cloudy day, but rain wasn't being forecasted.

"Just got to get the car," Roxas muttered to himself dejectedly, pushing his foot down on his bike pedal to start it going again. From then on it seemed to be smooth sailing and Roxas managed to get to the mechanic's shop without any more hindrances. He stopped his bike outside the front door, locked it up, and walked into the mechanic's shop, peering around to see if anyone was in sight.

The mechanic's shop nearest to Roxas' house was as old as, if not older than, the city itself. It looked like it had been erected from scrap metal during the Dust Bowl, or else had partially been there before and had been built onto after it had fallen into disarray. If it had been some sort of building before hand, Roxas thought that it was probably a kind of black smith's place. But that would have been almost a hundred years ago.

The inside was covered with tons of old, seedy, black and white photos of dirty faced men in overalls, covered in car oil and peering out from squinted eyes to look at the camera that had taken their picture. Underneath the photo at the bottom center of the frame was a handwritten label. Roxas couldn't really read what it said from the distance he was standing, so he moved closer to the wall the frame was on and looked at it more closely. It was dated 1926.

The rest of the shop had various odds and ends displayed around that the chief mechanic was proud of, or liked. There was the occasional potted plant, but most of them were dying. Roxas examined the whole of the room with interest, and then leaned against the huge window that ran from the side of the door to the other end of the wall. He'd never really noticed in detail the surroundings of the shop. It was an interesting place to examine.

Finally, the mechanic sauntered out from the back door towards the front desk with a dirty rag hanging out the back of his overalls. He smiled a slightly toothless grin at Roxas as he took the rag from the back of his overalls to wipe his hands off with before shaking Roxas'.

"You waiting for a car, son?" The man said in a hearty, gravelly voice, still smiling hugely. Roxas nodded. "Yes, sir, that's exactly why I'm here."

"Which type was it, son?"

"It was the jeep."

"Ah, the jeep. Come on out and have a look at her," the man said in good humor, opening the back door of the shop and leading Roxas into the backyard and towards the shed, where all the cars were brought. Roxas looked around at all the surroundings in deep interest. There were some ancient, gnarled trees that looked centuries old still hanging around the back of the shop front, and there were odd lawn chairs sitting underneath them containing the occasional employee, relaxing with a beer.

"Are they on lunch break?" Roxas asked in curiosity, and the shop owner nodded. "Yeah, it's nice to sit down once in a while after being out in the heat so long, you know?"

"Doesn't the shop have air conditioning?" Roxas asked, but the man snorted. "Nah. It's too old. We have fans, though. Just got the electricity fixed, so we've got loads of fans. It's great."

Roxas nodded in response to this, feeling bad for getting irritated about his situation previously. These guys had to stay out in the heat fixing cars all day. Roxas couldn't help but notice that it seemed hotter out here, perhaps with all the metal that made up the walls of the shed and shop front.

Finally, Roxas was shown to his jeep. When he looked more closely at it, he noticed a man shining the front of it with intense, concentrated movements. The man had his back turned to Roxas, and his hands were moving from side to side, pulling the rag he was using to shine the car in wide circles.

As the man moved his arms around in long strokes, Roxas noticed the muscles around his elbows, shoulders, and back, moving in a rhythm with his strokes, back and forth, each sinew in his back trembling and pulsating with movement. Beads of sweat traveled down from underneath his long red hair, crossing, meeting, and moving further down from the nape of his neck to the small of his back, ending at the rim of his boxers, which peeked out from his baggy black mechanics pants. He kept his hair tied back with a black hairband, and his head was covered with a dark bandana. Roxas was fascinated by the whole get up, realizing that the man standing in front of him had a powerful physical prowess that Roxas could not quite understand.

"Axel!" the chief mechanic called out, and the red haired man snapped to attention, turning around to meet eyes with Roxas, and then with his boss. "Are you finished with the car yet?"

Axel looked as if he was a little embarrassed, his intense stare turning slightly vulnerable, making him crumble in on himself. But he hid it quickly, straightening his back and grinning wide as he cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, I'm finished with it," he murmured with a chuckle, turning around again and backing away so that Roxas could see his car.

"Any longer and I think Axel would have had trouble giving back the car at all," The head mechanic hollered, laughing loudly afterwards. Axel shrugged. "I like Jeeps. That's a nice one."

Roxas cracked a smile without thinking about it, feeling the need to be easy, sociable. He shrugged well naturedly, looking at Axel head on. "Oh really? What makes it so nice?" Roxas chuckled.

Axel slowly raised his head, bringing his eyes up to meet Roxas' coolly. Roxas' joking, comfortable grin disappeared as Axel stared at him with crystalline green eyes, a piercing shade of green that allowed no other color to intermingle with it. The bones in Axel's face were angled but smooth, his eyebrows turned sharply upwards and his nose coming down in a clear line. His eyes were framed in dark eyelashes, and as Roxas peered closer, he thought he could see the remnants of black eyeliner staining Axel's eyes, perhaps from the night before. The shadows accentuated his eyes even more, their sly, feline shape impossible to miss.

As Roxas and Axel stared at each other, the chief mechanic waited patiently, not particularly questioning the exchange that was going on in front of him. When the look lingered on for what he felt was an unnecessary amount of time, he cleared his voice and threw his hand onto Axel's shoulder, opening his other arm and beckoning for Roxas to come over and see his car.

Not only had it been repaired, but it had also been washed, shined, and from what Roxas could see, painted nicely in spots where it had gotten scratched up before. Roxas sighed in delight, checking out the inside of the car with equal excitement. From everything that he could see, the car was in impeccable shape.

"This is amazing. I didn't ask for all this, but…" Roxas murmured, nodding his head in deep satisfaction and pulling himself out of his car to return his attention to the two men in front of him. "It's great."

"Well, Axel did most of it. I had to help him with some of it, but for the most part, he's the one you should be thanking."

Roxas turned back to Axel and smiled again. "Thank you so much, man, that's wonderful."

Axel shrugged his shoulders, looking off to the left a little bit. Roxas could hear Axel mumbling _something _in return, but he couldn't make out the exact words. The guy seemed like he was a really good mechanic, and a really decent guy. He impressed Roxas immensely, making the young man wonder why he hadn't seen him around before.

"Come to the front desk when you're ready to pay," The chief mechanic said, and sauntered back towards the shop front slowly, chatting with a few of the men sitting down under trees as he walked. This left Roxas and Axel alone, the latter moving over to one of the other cars to tinker with its open front, concentrating on it intensely, as if Roxas had already gone. Roxas was usually fine with silence, but this particular quiet was strangely jarring to him, and he felt the need to make conversation.

"You know, I've always envied guys who could work with their hands in this way, who had this type of talent with machinery," Roxas began, examining his surroundings with a smile. Axel continued to concentrate at the car in front of him, his crystalline eyes moving over the different components within the car's front.

"It's amazing that you have this technical ability. I was never good at tinkering."

"Well I was never very good with people," Axel finally returned in a slightly disinterested drawl, still examining the car. "So this is my balance talent."

"That's a good term for it," Roxas returned thoughtfully. He heard a chuckle coming from the hood of the car, as Axel shook his head a little bit. Roxas shrugged. "What? Sorry, I'm a serious guy."

"Nah, don't you worry about it, man," Axel returned easily in a throaty purr, chuckling again. Roxas wondered what exactly the man thought of him. Maybe he saw Roxas as over eager, too vocal. There was more silence, carrying on until Roxas finally decided that it was time for him to leave.

"Well, it was wonderful meeting you," Roxas said with a warm smile, holding out his hand for Axel to shake, "hopefully we'll cross paths again." Axel looked at Roxas' palm for a moment, before wiping off his own and slowly extending his hand to return the gesture. The two men shook each other's hands and looked one another in the eye, Roxas' expression warm and unthreatening, Axel's expression impenetrable. "You've got a strong handshake," Axel acquiesced. "Thanks," Roxas returned.

They broke contact, and Roxas headed back to the front to pay.

"Hey!" Axel finally called after him, making Roxas turn around hopefully. The man hesitated momentarily, before grinning and cocking his head to the side. "Sorry for my ill behavior."

"You mean previous or in advance?" Roxas returned quickly, making Axel laugh out loud and shrug. "Both at the same time," Axel responded, grinning even wider than before. "You know, a guy can't help himself, in the state I'm in."

"Much agreed and excused," Roxas replied, and Axel gave him a final, wonderfully rich laugh before waving goodbye to him and heading back to work, shaking his head again.

Roxas finally trotted to the front of the shop to pay, talking briefly with the chief mechanic and asking if he could add in a tip for Axel, for his great workmanship. "If you want," the chief mechanic shrugged. "Do you want cash back?"

"Yeah, give me ten," Roxas said, and the man handed him ten dollars from the register. "Have a nice day, son," the old man added and Roxas smiled at him, tipping his head and holding his hand up in goodbye as he exited the shop. His jeep was just pulling out front for him, and Axel hopped out and handed him the keys gingerly, with a forlorn sigh.

"Thanks for your great work," Roxas said, handing Axel the ten dollars in exchange for the keys. Axel peered down at the money in deep surprise, and then shrugged and shoved it into his pocket, bowing a little bit and mumbling thanks before heading back towards the shed.

Roxas started up his car with no problem, and pulled out of the car park and onto the road, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he travelled, humming Arcade Fire. He even plugged in the Suburbs and let it play, thinking about how much he wanted to get to know Axel. The man seemed to exist in a whole different realm than anyone Roxas had ever met before. He was fascinating not just on a human perspective, but on an artistic one, too.

Roxas decided that he wanted to go over to Hayner and smoke with him, so he veered off towards his friend's street, stopping in front of his apartment and rummaging around for his supplies. He had some stuff at home, but he'd forgotten to take out the stuff he'd left in the car when it had broken down last. He'd gotten a new pipe in some weird second hand place and hadn't gotten the chance to try it out yet.

After the first few minutes of searching, Roxas wondered if he had actually taken the stuff out of his car, then he began to worry. He had hidden it pretty damn well; it was stored under his back seat, up against the underside. But it wasn't there anymore. Then, upon closer inspection of his car, he saw that a few of his things were missing from its inside. The cash he'd left in the glove compartment was gone, and so was a keychain that he had hung from his rear view mirror.

Roxas sat back in slight shock and ran his hands through his hair. No one stole anything in Twilight Town. Well, not very many, at least. Had the chief mechanic stolen it? No, loads of people had been in to see him and raved about his service. Then, it clicked.

"Son of a bitch!" Roxas barked, sitting back in the driver's seat, livid. "That slick ginger fuck stole my stuff!"

….

When Roxas told Hayner and Pence about the incident, they couldn't stop laughing.

"I didn't know you were that much of a dumbass to leave your pot in your car like that."

"I'd hidden it well! I didn't think they were going to give the car a fucking strip search to find my shit!"

"Wait, how well was it hidden?" Hayner asked in curiosity. Roxas snorted, leaning back against Hayner's couch. "It was pretty damn well hidden. It was up underneath one of the backseats, and not even on the floor. It was _up underneath. _He would have had to search the car with the intent of finding shit to find it. And my money."

"How much money was there?"

Roxas sighed in dejection, shrugging. "I don't know, fifty or something," he muttered. Pence winced and Hayner shook his head. "That sucks man."

"Yeah, and I fucking tipped the fucker," Roxas mumbled. This made Pence crack up, rolling over on his side on the couch and laughing like crazy. It even made Roxas grin in spite of himself. "He seemed like a really cool guy."

"You were in love!" Pence said in a girly voice, sticking his thumb in his mouth and pulling a 'seductive look' at Roxas, raising his eyebrows up and down and sticking his butt out an absurd length. Roxas hollered with laughter, slapping Pence's butt and laying back comfortably on the couch. "Yeah, my love made me blind to his ill behavior." After saying this, Roxas realized further the connotations of what Axel had said to him as he had left.

"Son of a bitch!" Roxas growled, mussing up his hair even more in deep irritation. He would have been seriously angry if he weren't high.

"What?" Hayner asked, turning to Roxas, who shook his head in anger. "He apologized for his 'ill behavior' before I left. Then I asked if he meant 'previous or in advance', and he said 'both at the same time'."

"So he's a slick motherfucker," Hayner said with a chuckle. "Not just slick, but cheeky."

Roxas nodded at this, and then began to shake his head, not believing that he had let himself be taken for a fool like that. He prided himself on being intellectual.

"Hey, it's kind of cool in a really weird way, being duped like that," Pence tried thoughtfully. "It's a story to tell, at least."

"Yeah, that's true," Roxas replied. "It's better to think on the bright side, I guess."

"At least you got your car back safe and sound," Pence added further. Roxas simply nodded in return. He knew that Axel had felt very little remorse for his actions, and that he'd probably taken such care with the actual car simply because he loved it.

"Was he attractive at least?" Hayner joked, puffing out a long train of smoke. Roxas pondered for a moment, watching the smoke billow out from Hayner's lips and fizzle out in the light overhead, wisping away with the air from the fan. "Yeah, very," Roxas murmured, making Hayner nod in half attentive approval. "Well there you go."

…

Roxas woke up at 12 o'clock pm, lying on Hayner's bedroom floor. He presumed that he'd been kicked off of the bed by accident. Then, he remembered that he was supposed to get back home before he was to go to his first rehearsal for the play he was in. And he was supposed to meet a friend for lunch.

Groggily, he stumbled up from the floor and picked up all of his odds and ends that he'd left lying around. He heard Hayner mumble in his sleep, but Roxas figured he wouldn't disturb him.

Tiptoeing out of the place as best as he could, he closed the door after him and clomped down towards his jeep that was waiting faithfully for him in front of Hayner's house. He'd decided to lock the doors of his car that night, "just in case". It would take him a little while to get over the mechanic incident.

Revving up the engine, Roxas pulled out from Hayner's apartment and got on the road to his house. He decided that he should probably have a shower for his first rehearsal and at least try to look halfway decent. He'd have to call Riku and tell him that he'd have to meet him later than he'd originally planned.

As he thought about it, his phone rang, and he noticed that it was Riku who was calling him.

"Hey man!" Roxas answered the phone, rubbing his eyes a little bit. "Hey, listen, I'm really sorry, but I slept in and I won't be able to come till later."

"That's fine," Riku responded coolly. "I was calling to say that I'm not going to be in the play after all."

"What?" Roxas responded in alarm. "Why not man?"

"I got a job as assistant choreographer with the director of that new musical opening at the end of the summer."

"Oh shit, man, that's great! And you can't schedule in time for rehearsal?" Roxas replied. He'd gotten word of the play through Riku, whom he'd met during his college tour that spring.

"Nah, the directors won't let me do both. I've just got to take this opportunity," Riku added. "You'll be fine on your own, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Roxas sighed. The only person he'd known from this whole thing was Riku. He remembered the kids who were at the callbacks, but the one who had really stuck in his mind was this girl named Kairi whom Riku had introduced him to. She seemed really nice, and had a welcoming, bright aura about her. Maybe he could talk to her.

"Thanks man, this is great," Riku said, "It's nice that you're not completely bummed."

"Dude, I can look after myself," Roxas snorted, making Riku laugh.

"Alright man, bye."

"Bye," Roxas replied and then hung up. After a little while of sulking, he saw the familiar street that pulled into his house, and he did so, parking the car quickly and hopping out. He charged up to the front door and opened it- his mother must have still been at home because the door was unlocked.

As he dashed by the kitchen he heard his mother calling out to him. "Roxas, where are you going now?"

"I'm going to rehearsal, mom," Roxas piped up. "I overslept at Hayner's so I have to hurry, I'll talk later!"

"Okay," his mother replied, rolling her eyes. "I have some lunch in here if you want any. It's chicken salad."

"That's great!" Roxas replied with a bright nod and charged up the stairs towards the bathroom. When he got inside, he tore his clothes off and turned on the shower faucet, waiting for the water to warm up. In the meantime, he began to look in the mirror.

Roxas was always a skinny kid who didn't need to do much exercise to look good, but he could tell now that things were changing a little bit. His stomach was getting very soft and his pecks were drooping. Suddenly, Roxas got an image of himself with man boobs and a pooch stomach and started to get a little scared. He'd have to do some form of exercise and try not to eat as much as he usually did. Maybe he'd skip lunch today.

Roxas quickly hopped into the shower and washed his hair and his body quickly, his heart beating a little bit faster as he thought about rehearsal. The play he was going to be a part of was a production of Othello. Roxas had dreamed of getting the part of Iago, his favorite Shakespearean villain, but instead he had received the part of Cassio, Othello's young lieutenant. Roxas didn't begrudge the role, of course, but he always got those kinds of roles. Of course, perhaps the young, innocent, valiant man was his type, but sometimes it got boring.

Axel would have been an interesting Iago. He had the criminal activity part, down, Roxas thought to himself with a snort. And his feline eyes betrayed a cunning and sly nature, green and serpent like, his eyebrows harsh upward lines over his eyes.

Roxas shivered, and noticed in alarm that he had gone hard. Maybe he hit against the faucet by accident when he was in deep thought. Roxas' hand hovered over the space between his legs, as if he was hesitant, and then he shrugged, and grabbed ahold of himself, rubbing back and forth quickly, leaning against the back wall and slowly sliding down to sit at the edge of the back.

As his hand moved up and down, he let his thoughts wander, his breathing getting a little bit shallower. Suddenly, Axel came into his mind again, leaning over his Jeep in deep concentration.

Someone called to Axel and he turned around, only half listening, before looking at Roxas and smiling, opening his mouth and showing his teeth.

"Okay!" Roxas said loudly, and his hands flew up. He shook his head for a moment and sighed before going at it again. He began to think about his ex, but a bad feeling welled up in his chest and he thought about nothing. When he finally finished, he was less relaxed then when he'd started. He washed himself off and got out of the shower, drying off and looking in the mirror again. Then, with a growl of disapproval, he pulled on his clothes, shoved out of the house, and got into his jeep, driving towards Disney City, where his first play rehearsal was being held.


End file.
